


Twelve Again

by fezwearingjellybananas



Series: Writer's Month 2020 [19]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25996204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fezwearingjellybananas/pseuds/fezwearingjellybananas
Summary: When Wally called Joe asking if he could come to S.T.A.R. Labs to help with an emergency, this was not what he had imagined.
Series: Writer's Month 2020 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859224
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	Twelve Again

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's Month Day 19- Deaging

“What’s the emergency?” Joe asked, walking into the Cortex.

“Well,” Wally said. “Long story short, Barry and Cisco are twelve.”

“Excuse me?”

“They’re fine,” Caitlin said. “And the Legends are on their way with Constantine, he says it’s an easy fix and he’s done it before, I didn’t ask, it’s just we might have lost them?”

“I picked them up and brought them back here, and then Barry punched me in the stomach and ran off, dragging Cisco with him,” Wally said. “Iris is on her way, apparently she’s dropping by Iron Heights? I’m pretty sure they’re still in the building, but Iris insisted.”

“All right. I’ll find him.”

* * *

Barry had always been resourceful. And quick. But that didn’t change the fact he was currently a twelve-year-old boy, presumably with no memory if he’d punched Wally, and twelve-year-old Barry had been incredibly predictable.

The Flash suit didn’t have any pockets, and even if he found some loose change, bus prices had changed a lot since 2001. Central had also changed, and S.T.A.R. Labs was in Westminster, the other side of the city to Danville, it wasn’t a landmark Barry would recognise.

The Flash boots were tossed aside in the corridor. Which meant Barry was still in his suit, which would be far too big for him at twelve, and he wouldn’t be able to run far in that, let alone all the way to Iron Heights. And he’d punched Wally in the stomach. The first thing he’d do is try and find a phone.

No one had been in Eobard Thawne’s office since the Singularity. Given the thick layer of dust, it hadn’t even been cleaned. And Joe knew the landline had been disconnected years ago, but there was still a phone sat on the desk.

Except it had been pulled off the desk and curled up under it were two boys. One seemed so incredibly familiar.

“Barry.”

“Joe!” Barry shot out leaving the phone lying on the floor and wrapped his arms around Joe’s middle. “You found me! It’s the man in yellow, I saw him, you have to believe me-”

“Barry, son, you need to breathe.”

“The man in yellow’s back, he’s gonna hurt my dad-”

“It’s okay. It wasn’t him. It was Kid Flash. His enemy. A superhero. I’m not going to let him anywhere near you, okay?”

“You believe me?” Barry asked.

“I believe you,” Joe said. “I am so sorry I doubted you before, but I believe you, and I’m going to keep you safe.”

Barry just resumed hugging him and Joe could hear sobs. He rubbed his hand up and down Barry’s back.

“You’re okay, Bare, I promise. You must be Cisco.”

“Hello, sir,” young Cisco stepped out. He had short hair, and he seemed much more gangly, like he’d recently had a growth spurt and his limbs were all suddenly much too big for him. And he was taller than Barry, but his face was so clearly Cisco’s. Both of them were still in their suits, although they were much too big for them. “Do you know where I am?”

“You’re at S.T.A.R. Labs,” Joe said. “I’m Detective Joe West. I need to get you two boys back upstairs, is that okay?”

“And then can you call my dad? We couldn’t make the phone work.”

“And my dad,” Barry said. “If he’s back then we can prove Dad’s innocent. Right, Joe?”

“You need to come upstairs, Bare, then we’ll talk about it.”

“You said you believe me.”

“I do believe you. But it’s complicated right now, okay?”

“Fine.”

* * *

Iris had arrived by the time Joe convinced the two of them to head back upstairs. Wally had his cowl down, but he was still in his suit.

Barry scowled at him.

“Are you really a superhero?” Cisco asked.

“Um,” Wally said. “Yes?”

“How come your suit looks like the one Barry’s wearing?”

“That’s difficult to explain.”

“If you were a proper superhero then you would have saved her,” Barry said.

“Wally got his powers after, Bare,” Iris said. Barry frowned at him. “It’s me, it’s Iris.”

“Iris is the same age as me.”

“This is the future.”

“That’s why the buildings look different? But why would you bring me to the future?”

“It was an accident,” Wally said. “You somehow got switched with my friend. That’s his suit you’re wearing. They call him the Flash.”

“Like Joe said you’re Kid Flash?”

“Yeah, I should probably come up with something new.”

“Am I in the future too?” Cisco asked.

“Yes, you got switched with my other friend, Vibe, but we have a friend coming to try and fix it.”

“Can I see my dad?”

“Of course,” Caitlin said.

“And then you can prove my dad shouldn’t be in prison,” Barry said.

“He actually already did that in this time,” Iris said. “But Henry’s busy right now, so I don’t know if he’ll be able to visit.”

“It’s Dad. And can’t he run and find him?”

“Henry’s actually busy with our friend Jay,” Caitlin said.

“That won’t work,” Iris said before Joe could say anything. Henry and Jay might look the same, but Barry would know in an instance. “But Jay lives on another Earth and the time doesn’t always match up, so we can try and call him, but he might not be back in time.”

“He’s twelve,” Caitlin said.

“Is it like Cittagazze?” Barry asked.

“No, it’s I suppose more like Lyra’s world if we were Will’s, but without the armoured bears or the daemons,” Iris said.

“How many other worlds are there?”

“A lot, we don’t know how many exactly, but Jay lives on Earth-3 and we live on Earth-1.”

“Cool. Did you hear that, Cisco? There’s a multiverse!”

“Is my dad on another world too?” Cisco asked.

“No, I’ll go call him,” Caitlin said.

“Can we visit the other Earths?” Barry asked. “Where’s future me if you and Joe are here? What is this place?”

Iris pulled Barry to the side to answer some of his many questions. Cisco trailed along too, more nervous, but with his own science questions.

“The Legends said they won’t be long, but you know what there timing is like,” Wally said. “But I do think they can actually fix it easily enough.”

“Good,” Joe said. “Now you just have to keep them distracted till they get here.”


End file.
